Bone conduction hearing aid systems are based on bone conduction principle where skull bone is used as a medium to transfer sound vibrations to the inner ear. This may generally include people who have problems with either outer ear, middle ear or both.
Bone conduction hearing devices are a significant and important market in the field of hearing devices or hearing aids. There are five major types of bone conduction devices, including: (1) External bone conduction devices where a vibrator is held to the side of the head by a band that traverses around the head (2) Bone anchored hearing devices where a screw is placed through the skin into the skull and a vibrator transducer is hung to the side of the screw (abutment) (3) Magnetic bone conduction hearing implants, where magnets are implanted and attached to the skull and externally positioned magnets provide a normal force to the side of the head to hold the vibrator to the head; (4) Teeth vibrators where the vibrator is attached to a tooth or a dental implant (5) Active implantable bone conduction devices, where a transducer is implanted under the skin to vibrate the skull.
For external bone conduction hearing devices, an important aspect is ensuring the external component is secured to the side of the head without adverse biological effects. Long-term use of headband-worn bone vibrators may cause skin ulceration and, in severe cases, physical depression at the point of contact. Also, reactions around the abutment may range from skin irritation and erythema to an overt infection causing implant extrusion.
There are several known systems for securing a device to the user include such as headband, spectacles, double stick tape. The various devices disclosed in the art, however, have substantial limitations in that they either do not sufficiently and reliably provide adequate force, provide too much force, are obtrusive or uncomfortable, or require implantation with attendant costs and surgical intervention.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a bone conduction hearing aid system that reduces or even eliminates the drawbacks of the prior art solutions.
There is a need to provide a mounting assembly for a bone conduction hearing aid that is more user-friendly than the prior art solutions.
It may be an advantage to have a mounting assembly that makes it possible for the user of a bone conduction hearing aid to adjust the position of the sound processor and/or the vibrator to the desired location on the head of the user.